


we restless souls

by brokentombstone



Category: Ready or Not (2019)
Genre: Basically a Daniel lives fix it where they resolve their feelings with a hopeful ending, Daniel survives, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post-Canon Fix-It, Sharing a Bed, Smut, yall know the drill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25121833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokentombstone/pseuds/brokentombstone
Summary: Grace knew it wasn’t healthy. She knew that what she needed was a clean break. But somehow, despite her clear thinking, she rationalized her behaviour that was completely to the contrary.She needed a fresh start, she needed to get away from the Le Domas legacy and process (or grieve, depending on the day) the events that had transpired on the evening of her wedding. And while she was now in therapy, she couldn’t let herself just walk away. Not when Daniel Le Domas somehow miraculously survived the bullet wound just below his neck and the explosions that had struck down the rest of his family.No, Grace thought, she was simply a glutton for punishment.
Relationships: Daniel Le Domas/Grace Le Domas
Comments: 18
Kudos: 144





	we restless souls

**Author's Note:**

> (first, those of you who read my Game of Thrones fics, I'll be back with more this is just a slight divergence lol.)
> 
> so uhh hi I don't go here but I watched this film and cannot get these two out of my head so here is me processing how much that film wrecked me and giving these characters the justice they deserved. (which is really just peace and love with each other and learning to let go, process their feelings, and not let their past define them).

_"no one escapes from life alive"_

_-_ michael crichton

Grace woke in a cold sweat, a scream dying on her lips as she clutched at the blanket around her and scooted up to rest her back on her headboard. 

2:17 A.M. The time blinked red on her brand new alarm clock that she hardly used. Without any true responsibilities and after the windfall of money she found herself inheriting in the wake of her husband’s death she hardly found it necessary to use the alarm function. But mundane things like knowing the time kept her grounded, let her know that she wasn’t back in the Le Domas house of horrors fighting for her life. 

She reached for the water glass on her bedside table and took a deep gulp, the icy water coated her dry mouth and slid down her throat. It sent a chill into her and she moved the blanket up around her shoulders. She knew she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep anytime soon. 

It had been four months since the night and she probably had nightmares like this five nights out of seven. (Though she wasn’t keeping count. As her therapist told her that was unlikely to be helpful to her recovery). Though she wondered more and more what good therapy was for her when she could only tell half truths and fumble out the story of that night in bits and pieces if she didn’t want to wind up actually locked away. 

Four months and she knew that she was spiralling. She had taken up running and she started every day with a long jog through the city, main streets only with people and cars. But it felt good to pound her feet into solid ground and run for the pleasure of it, not in fear of her life. Besides her running and basic outings like grocery shopping she didn’t do much.

She hadn’t had many friends before the wedding that weren’t people she knew through Alex, and afterwards she had cut contact with any of the remaining ones altogether. Her relationships with her past foster parents had been mere annual phone calls for many years, hell they hadn’t even been at the wedding. And without the pressing need for work, she had zero social life. So her life revolved around watching Netflix, trying out new recipes, and catching up on a lot of reading she’d been putting off. But even that was tinged with memories of her past. 

She couldn’t consume media that was even remotely horrorish. Or anything that had weaponry. She tried to stay light and fluffy but if there was a wedding she would have a panic attack. It was incredibly limiting. She had started watching a lot of animal documentaries (no goats of course) and stuck to reading reliable favourites she already knew wouldn’t bring out her traumas. 

The apartment she had acquired for herself was simple. She had hired movers to extricate the things from her and Alex’s shared place a few weeks after getting out of the hospital. She had disposed of most of their belongings immediately, selling what would sell and salvaging what she could manage to get to before the grief of all she had lost threatened to overwhelm her. 

Hell, she had more money than she could ever hope to spend in her lifetime so buying all new everything seemed a very small thing in comparison to what she had been through. And she had other things to consider. Namely getting her shit together so she could at least learn to function like a regular human being again. 

Grace tried to settle back into bed. She placed her water cup down and actually grabbed a sleeping mask from the drawer. It enveloped her in darkness immediately. Which when she had first bought it had been suffocating. (She saw the dumbwaiter, the dank pit in the barn, and the dimly lit interiors of the Le Domas mansion). But now it made her feel safe, it made her feel held. 

But tonight when she closed her eyes she was reminded of everything that had transpired in the hospital after she had been taken out. Suddenly she was reliving it in pieces.

She’d been under for a few days but her injuries, save for the hole straight through her hand, were mostly salvageable. It would take a lot of physiotherapy for that hand to regain its full function. When she woke up it was to nurses and doctors explaining her injuries, the recovery process, the counselling they had set up. She had barely spoken in the first few days. 

Once she had regained a bit of her strength she had been okayed by the doctors to have a sit down talk with the investigators taking on the case. That was when she had found out about Daniel. It had fallen from their lips so easily. 

“We haven’t talked to Mr. Le Domas yet, but we will be getting his full account as well. It seems you have both been through hell and back and we just want to make things as easy as possible on the two of you,” the older woman with short red hair and circular glasses had said, not even noticing Grace’s expression. 

Grace had lost her breath, and in a choked sound that sounded more like a wheeze, she had asked. 

“Mr. Le Domas?”

She had seen them all die right in front of her, she was certain of it. But somehow one of them was still alive? She had to concentrate to stop herself from hyperventilating. 

The red head woman had exchanged a concerned glance with her partner. He spoke to Grace slowly after that. 

“Daniel Le Domas, your brother in-law? He was pulled out shortly after you were taken in the ambulance. We assumed you had been told… He is recovering well, by some miracle. And we plan to talk with him in the next few days,” he said. 

Grace had passed out. 

The next time she woke the doctor had been there and she was back in bed. He explained carefully about how they found Daniel. Barely clinging to life but the paramedics had fought valiantly for him and brought him back from the brink. He had been on the cusp of death for several days while Grace had been sedated but had eventually woke all the same. The doctor’s voice had gone soft when he told her the last bit. 

“He asked for you. ‘Grace. Grace, is she okay?’ He rasped out. He was half hopped up on drugs but it was all he wanted to know, that you were alright. We had to assure him of that before he would think of anything else.”

The knowledge had sat like a rock in her stomach, lodging itself there heavy and uncomfortable. It was one thing thinking that he sacrificed himself for her and died. Another entirely to know he sacrificed himself but lived, and now she would have to deal with the aftermath of that utter selflessness. 

Because that is what it was. He had chosen her over his entire deranged family, even when Alex was ready to kill her. _Daniel_ had taken a bullet for her, one shot by his own damn wife. (Daniel putting himself between her and Charity seemed to replay in her mind over and over again. The expression on Charity’s face. Betrayal, complete and utter). And that night when the nurses had left her alone she sobbed freely. Daniel was alive and it had brought her some small comfort in all of the horrible things she had endured. 

In the end though they’d only seen each other once. Apparently the stories they told the police had matched up well enough that the investigation was dropped. And Daniel wasn’t trying to haggle over the fortune so they were actually inheriting it pretty evenly down the middle, her being Alex’s widow and all. She had met with a financial advisor who she knew she would need to see several more times to understand what she could and should actually do with her insurmountable wealth. 

But before she had been discharged she had asked to see him. She almost expected him to do it himself, to show up at her door. But she knew his injury had been more serious, he wouldn’t be leaving for a couple more weeks, they needed to continue to monitor his progress. The doctors had been more than amicable in her request and before she knew it she was standing in Daniel’s doorway. Steps away from going inside. She took a steadying breath and went in. 

She knew she looked not so glamorous. Wearing hospital issued sweats and a baggy t-shirt. Hair in a messy bun and with several scars and stitches poking out everywhere. Her hand still bandaged heavily. But seeing Daniel like that had left a lasting impression. His beard had filled in, he looked gruff. He had lost weight and looked pale. She could see the scars and stitches around his collarbone and neck from where Charity shot him. Her heart skipped seeing it again. Despite his appearance though his face broke into the same boyish grin it had before all of this mess. 

“I didn’t know whether to believe them that you were here. I mean I knew you survived, but it’s been weeks, what gives?” 

He was already giving her a hard time and she found herself giving him a smirk back despite the awful circumstances, it was surprising how easy it always was between them. She came to sit on his bedside. He scooted to give her room and for a few moments they simply stared at each other, seemingly in awe that the other had survived at all. (Grace realized belatedly how this scene wasn’t unlike a wife coming to visit her husband on his sickbed. But she pushed the thought away). 

When she found her voice it came out cracked and wet. 

“They’re dead,” she croaked. 

Daniel gave her a nod. He seemed resigned to the fact. 

“I killed your mother,” Grace’s voice became thick with tears and she found she couldn’t hold his gaze any longer. 

Daniel didn’t recoil but he flinched. Hard. 

“Nothing I wouldn’t have done myself,” Daniel muttered and turned his head from her. But she saw clearly enough the tears that had sprung in his eyes. 

And that was the crux of it, she had thought. Is that despite it all, even though he did choose her, they were still his family. They would always be his family and they were dead because of her, because she lived. Surely Daniel wanted nothing to do with her. Maybe it would have been better for him to die, maybe he was thinking it right now. Grace hated herself for even entertaining the idea. 

“How’d you survive?” Grace asked quietly after a few minutes. 

Daniel sniffed and gave a shrug. 

“Beats me. Last thing I remember you were holding my face like some avenging angel in your bloodied wedding dress and the next I woke up in the hospital room. Told that you were alive and I had a lot of physiotherapy to get to,” Daniel said and finally met her eye again. 

Grace grabbed his hand then. 

“I’m sorry Daniel. I’m not sorry they’re dead. They tried to kill me. But I’m sorry you lost them. I’m sorry you couldn’t save them. Especially Alex. But I’m thankful you saved me. I don’t know how to make that up to you,” Grace said and gave his hand another squeeze. 

Daniel seemed startled by her declaration and then his expression shifted and he looked desperately sad. 

“There’s nothing to forgive Grace. And the best you can do to repay me is… well. Just live, go and live your life and be happy. Find happiness. You deserve that. More than anyone I’ve ever met,” Daniel said.

They just looked at each other for several long moments. Something in her wanted to heal the hurt in him. She knew it was her cue to go, that their strangely linked fates were coming to an end in that hospital room but she couldn’t bring herself to get up. 

“Go on Grace,” Daniel urged and dropped her hand, “Get outta here. Take the money and run.”

He cracked a smile and Grace let a tear drop onto his blanket. She finally found the strength to leave and when she was in the doorway she had turned back one final time. 

“I told you you’d save me,” she said and raised an eyebrow, daring him to deny it. 

Daniel had sat there stunned and Grace had walked back to her room and out of the hospital later that day. It had been over three months and she hadn’t heard from Daniel since. She knew it was better that way. Though her hand itched over the phone number she still had from before the wedding on the nights when she woke screaming his name, having seen him bleed out under her desperate hands for the hundredth time. 

Tonight though her thoughts lulled her into a dreamless sleep, focusing on that last image. Daniel’s crooked toothy grin that represented something unattainable to Grace, something safe.

* * *

Daniel’s eyes fluttered open and the first thing he realized was that the light was blinding him. Sunbeams were streaming in the windows of the living room of his apartment. He threw a hand back over his eyes and let out a strangled groan. 

He kept telling himself he wasn’t going to do this. That he was going to actually get help with his drinking. And in the months since his family had died he had succeeded many times only to relapse again and again. This last time hurt though and as he lay there in the midday heat with a throbbing headache he remembered what had set it off. 

It had been nearly two weeks of sobriety, his longest stint yet, thirteen days. Tomorrow he would have his now weekly AA meeting and he had been feeling good. It had been nearly three months since he got out of the hospital (or since he last saw Grace as he so often reminded himself) and he felt like this was truly his chance to get back on his feet. 

His day, as most were now, was mundane. He’d gone to the gym and stopped at the drugstore to get some allergy medication. Nothing special. But as the evening gloom had set in he had fallen asleep in the middle of some Food Network competition show and woke up an hour or so later drenched in sweat and dread after reliving the ill fated night of his childhood when his Aunt Helene’s husband had been killed. Charles. The name still haunted Daniel. He knew he had played a part in his death, even if it was likely already sealed by the time their paths crossed.

But in this dream, the child Daniel, after screaming for his family to come and kill the man, had looked back at Charles. And Charles distorted, suddenly it was Grace standing before him, her wedding dress still pristine, her hair and makeup untarnished. She smiled and blood dripped from her mouth as her eyes rolled back in her head. He had screamed. 

Before he could even process the fact that it _was_ a dream he was down the street at the liquor store buying a bottle of whiskey. He had gotten wise enough to stop keeping the stuff in his place but maybe the proximity to liquor was going to become a problem as well. (Though Daniel hated the thought of having to move somewhere so remote to conquer his own addiction. He was over letting this rule his life). 

The cashier at the liquor store recognized him and seemed to give him a slightly disapproving stare but within minutes Daniel was back at his kitchen island slamming down the first shot and the situation had only progressed from there. 

He had drunk well into the early morning, getting progressively sloppier. He went through bouts of weeping but luckily no yelling. He didn’t think the apartment neighbours would take kindly to it. Eventually he had passed out on the couch and now he was faced with the consequences of his decision. 

One glance at the clock told him he had missed his AA meeting. Fuck. Next week was going to be embarrassing, not to mention shameful. But Daniel pulled himself off the couch and made his way to the bathroom.

He stuck his head under the tap and let the cold water glide down his throat, over onto his still groggy face. And then he pulled two advils from the cabinet and downed them in quick succession. When that was done he looked at himself in the mirror. 

At some point in the night he lost his shirt and his sweatpants hung low on his hips. His beard was scruffy and his eyes bloodshot, of course. He couldn’t help but be drawn to the scars along his neck, collarbone, and shoulder from his bullet wound and the ensuing surgery. But then he gave his head a shake, best not to think of that now. 

He made his way back to the living room and picked up what remained of the whiskey bottle. He headed straight to the sink and dumped the last of the contents down the sink. This was the easy part, he was always committed to changing at first. At least the commitment was lengthening each time. He hoped desperately this time would be for good though, he was so tired of this never ending cycle. (Maybe he _should_ see a therapist and not just his AA meetings, as those there had been trying to encourage him to do). 

Daniel slumped back to the couch. He was too hungover and self pitying to clean up today he thought. But after an hour of mindless TV he grew restless. And so he set to work putting his apartment back together and even took a refreshing shower. He shaved as well, cleaning up some of the scraggliness. 

He whipped something quick and easy up for dinner, it was already getting late by then and despite sleeping all day he felt exhaustion setting in. 

Around 11PM he finally called it a night and decided to make it his goal to have a good day tomorrow. He fell asleep easily.

But not three hours later he was woken up in the same fashion he had from his nap that prompted his spiral. His sheets were soaked with a cold sweat and he was gasping for air, scrambling for his bedside light. 

As his mind put together the pieces of his nightmare his heart slowed down. The nightmares had been getting more frequent instead of less since the incident. This time was especially brutal. It had been _him._ Him who killed Grace, holding her down and driving some weapon down into her heart with a sickening plunge. Her eyes looked at him in shock, despair, she pleaded as she died but Daniel didn’t stop.

Yet in the dream he had felt so sickened as soon as it happened, holding her as she bled out and the rest of his family crept away, the deed done. Not even Alex was mourning his wife. Only Daniel, crying over her cold corpse. 

Daniel itched for a drink, but for once he pushed down the need. Then, as if not thinking and possessed by some force outside of himself he reached for his phone and searched his contacts. Pressing call before he could think too much about what it was he was doing. 

Surprisingly the phone only rang one time before a voice came through on the other end. 

“Daniel?” 

Grace’s voice was coloured with shock but it was also alert, not at all as if he just woke her up at nearly two in the morning. Daniel’s entire body sagged with relief and suddenly, unbidden, he let out a choked sob.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called,” he was already backpedalling.

He had sent her away because he knew it was what she needed, the distance and the time to heal. Not her broken brother-in-law looming over her to remind her at every turn what she had endured. He had sworn to himself to leave her in peace and until now he had succeeded. But in retrospect maybe deleting her number would have been a good idea. 

“Daniel, are you okay? It sounds like you’re crying,” Grace said, concern laced every word.

It was clear that she didn’t want him to hang up but Daniel nearly did. It would be better for both of them if he did. 

Daniel’s voice was thick with tears, still reeling from having been jolted from his nightmare.

“Just had a nightmare. Didn’t think really, just called you,” Daniel explained, “Needed to hear your voice.”

The last bit was likely too much he thought, but Grace didn’t waver.

“I get them too,” Grace said, her voice quieter, “It’s why I was awake. I haven’t been able to sleep for the last few days really.”

It felt like the line was quiet for several minutes. Neither of them had spoken since their goodbye at the hospital and Daniel didn’t know what to say now that he was calling his brother’s widow in the middle of the night when he was awoken from nightmares about killing her. (Not to mention that his family had very nearly done just that). 

Grace’s voice, when it finally came, was even more quiet. 

“Are you in the city? You could come over…”

Her voice trailed off and Daniel swore he didn’t breathe. He didn’t let himself read into the words but his whole body wanted to run to her. His mind screamed at him to shut the endeavour down. 

He had gone to one of his family’s disused apartments after the wedding. He stayed in the city he had lived in with Charity but moved to the other side of it. He didn’t know that Grace had remained as well, he figured she would run as far as she could if he was being honest. 

Despite himself he found his words betraying him. 

“Yeah, if you’re sure it’s okay…”

His voice was uncertain, giving her every chance to rescind the offer. 

But she didn’t. They said their goodbyes and Grace sent him her address. Daniel was out the door two minutes later.

* * *

She didn’t live far from him. The GPS said it was only a twelve minute drive, probably closer to twenty in the middle of the day. And as Daniel raced through the pitch black streets in his car he thought about what he was racing towards. 

He hadn’t known Grace well before the wedding. He had met her a few times here and there with Alex. He hadn’t really expected her to last. She had been too good, too wholesome for their family. But when Alex had announced his intention to marry her Daniel had fought brutally with his brother. When he found out Alex wasn’t planning to even warn Grace beforehand… Well Daniel hadn’t spoken to him for a few weeks after that. 

Daniel had tried to push it from his mind but when you spend your days wallowing in self pity and your own imposed misery, you have a lot of free time. And as the day got closer he had dreaded the event. 

But somehow it hadn’t been until the day of the actual wedding that Daniel realized a startling truth. When she had come out dressed in the lace wedding dress, gleaming and shining like the happiest woman in the world, his stomach had dropped. Lurched. And he knew. 

It wasn’t a good thing, to be lusting after your brother’s fiance on their wedding day. But there Daniel had been. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her and had made every excuse to get close to her, to make flirty jokes that anyone could brush off as his brand of humor. And then to try and subliminally warn her about the potential horror to come. Even Charity had noticed, making barbs about Grace at every chance she could. He knew he hadn’t fooled his wife. (Maybe it was why she shot him, pushed over the edge by jealousy and resentment when he quite literally threw himself in harm’s way for this woman who wasn’t her. And as such spelling Charity’s own demise. He couldn’t really blame her when he thought about it that way). 

That night had been so harrowing for him, he couldn’t imagine how it had been for Grace. He couldn’t hold their deaths against her and had told her as much in the hospital. His own turn around hadn’t been a sure thing either. But even when he had still been unsure, he hadn’t wanted to hurt her, hadn’t wanted to see her dead. And it took awhile for him to be willing to sacrifice his own family to do it, but he had come through hadn’t he? He pondered that question a bit too deeply.

Even now, months later. The wedding dress haunted him. She had been ethereal. Other worldly and obviously sent down to torture him right there on his family’s lawn. Alex’s blatantly obvious adoration of her didn’t seem enough to him (nor had it been, at the end), not when he was the one keeping the darkest secret of their messed up family.

Then there was the fact that every time he saw her that night the dress was getting incrementally more destroyed, making her look more depraved. But no less beautiful, even covered in blood and dirt, tears streaming down her face, Grace had looked beyond reproach. And Daniel had drowned for those sinful thoughts, for imagining himself in Alex’s place, even when he desperately wanted Grace as far from his hellish family as possible. It was what he thought of while he was bleeding out, when he thought he was about to die, just Grace and his absurd hope that she could make it out alive. He knew by then that Alex wouldn’t help her.

Yet now he was the brother going to Grace’s in the middle of the night. He inched his speedometer higher to get to her apartment.

* * *

When Grace hung up the phone her calm heart immediately started pounding out of her chest. What had she done? How could she be so stupid? She just invited the last Le Domas to her house in the dead of night when the last time she had been alone with them they had been trying to kill her. But she took a deep breath. Daniel hadn’t. Daniel had saved her. He had let her walk away in the hospital. 

She jumped out of her bed, for some reason now a ball of nervous energy as she awaited her guest. She didn’t know how near or far he was. 

She pressed down her covers and gave her room a once over to assure it looked alright. She then hurried to the bathroom and smoothed down her hair. She splashed water on her face to liven it up and then gave her teeth a quick brush. She changed the ratty sweats and tshirt she had worn for a matching set of plaid flannels. Much nicer. 

But as she went to turn on the lights of her main living area she stopped dead as she realized why she was feeling such a sense of deja vu. Her actions, while rushed, were eerily similar to what she had done the first time Alex had come to spend the night at her place. 

She fought to keep her breathing steady. This wasn’t the same thing. This was Daniel. It would be fine. Everything was alright. Hell, Daniel isn’t even anyone to her, just the last one living from that night. (Even in her head this rang false). She stood for a couple minutes before she made her way to her kitchen counter. She huddled up on the stool and waited for Daniel’s arrival. 

She had slept well a few nights ago when that awful nightmare had woken her but since then she had hardly got one hour of peaceful sleep. It was like the nightmares were becoming specifically designed to torment her more thoroughly. It was why she had been awake to see the call come through. With her ringer off she had still seen the glow of her phone from the night stand. 

When she saw it was Daniel she thought she _was_ dreaming. That this was some new form of torture, taking her torment out of the Le Domas mansion. But that clearly wasn’t the case. And then hearing his voice, hearing him in pain and aching had sent her over the edge. She had impulsively invited him over, not really thinking through the implications of her request. 

But she felt this sudden urge to see him, maybe it would help with the nightmares. Maybe it would help her return to normalcy. To see Daniel and know he had survived, they had done it together after all, might ease her subconscious. She wondered idly if her therapist would agree with this tenuous rationalization when the knock came on her door. 

She had attached the code to her apartment complex to the address she sent him so he wouldn’t have to ring up but still the knock, so close, surprised her. She took one last deep breath and went to open it. 

For a few moments they both just stood there, suspended. They were both shocked to see each other, and the circumstances made it even more strange. Daniel was in a hoodie and sweatpants but otherwise looked as he did the day of the wedding. A bit rough around the edges but with an inherent sense of confidence. 

“Hey,” he said after a minute, a slight smile peeking out. 

Though she hadn’t spent a lot of time with Daniel in the grand scheme of things, being with him seemed to put her at ease quickly. 

She gestured for him to come in, locked the door behind him and then turned to face him. 

“Hey yourself,” Grace said back and they both subconsciously made their way to her large couch in the centre of the room. 

The silence was awkward for a few minutes and then they both tried to speak at the same time. 

“Oh you go first,” Grace fumbled when they talked over each other. 

Daniel shook his head, “No, I’m the one who called you, surely you have questions.”

Grace watched him across the couch and realized he looked nervous now, uncertain. A muscle in his jaw twitched and his eyes kept jumping around the room. 

“When I saw it was you I thought I was having some new nightmare,” Grace said, thinking about what she had been before he got here, and then realized what her words were implying and hurried to correct herself, “That’s not what I meant, I–”

Daniel laughed and cut over her, “No, I get what you mean. If they can’t get you in that house it will be somewhere else right?”

Grace nearly choked at his blunt words but then she found herself laughing as well. They laughed together for a few seconds and then Grace shook her head. 

“God what a mess we are, hey?” 

Daniel’s eyes found hers and they looked so open. Open and searching. But searching for what she wondered? 

“You have never been a mess Grace,” Daniel said too honestly and Grace felt colour rising in her cheeks. She looked to her feet. 

When she looked back up Daniel was letting out a great yawn that he tried to stifle when he noticed her looking. 

“You’re tired I imagine,” Grace said and then a yawn of her own escaped. 

They both looked at each other sheepishly for several seconds and then Grace rose to her feet. 

“Come on. We might as well get some sleep then. Maybe knowing someone else is here will keep our nightmares away,” Grace said and started towards her room.

Daniel followed but then seemed to realize where they were headed, he paused a few steps behind her. 

“Oh. Grace. No, I can take the couch, it’s fine.”

Daniel’s words were full of embarrassment, but Grace rolled her eyes. She felt comfortable and wasn’t worried about Daniel in the slightest. This man openly flirted with her on her wedding day but got cold feet now? She had lived through too much to be frightened of something so inconsequential now. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. I invited you here, you’re not sleeping on the couch. Get in here before I have to drag you Daniel. We’re both going to actually get a full eight hours, I’m certain,” Grace teased. 

Daniel wavered for one more second and then seemed to decide. 

“Okay, but I don’t think the church looks fondly on those who frequent their in-laws' beds, Grace. Better be careful or else we might be going to hell,” Daniel said and strode past her into the room. 

She was left speechless, her mouth hung open. But that was the Daniel she knew. 

It took them a few quiet minutes to get ready and then they both crawled into opposite sides of the bed. Only the bedside lamp illuminated the room. They both laid their straight as rods and equally uncomfortable. 

Grace sighed, rolled to her side, and scooted closer to Daniel. 

“Do you normally wear a hoodie to bed? It can’t be comfortable on the neck,” Grace asked him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well no, but I–” Daniel started, not meeting her eye. 

“You can take it off Daniel. It’s _fine,_ ” Grace stressed the last word to let him know that she truly was at ease. Sure all of this was a bit odd, but she felt more alive than she had in months and that had to count for something. 

She watched as he wrestled with the hoodie and dropped it to the ground. He laid there bare chested now and Grace rolled over to turn off the light, looking forward to finally getting some sleep. 

When the darkness engulfed them she curled up into her blankets. 

“Goodnight Daniel,” Grace murmured. 

“Goodnight Grace,” he said back, a lot more awake then she sounded. 

For a few minutes Grace tossed and turned and tried to get comfortable. She hadn’t realized she was shifting closer to Daniel until she bumped into his side. He flinched away from her but in her half sleep-addled mind she had reached for him, pulled his arm (and him with it) closer to wrap around her. She heard his strangled gasp at the obvious surprise and his chest was burning with heat as it pressed into her back but she held him there closely. 

“Stay,” she said sleepily. 

And he did.

* * *

The next several months pass much more quickly than the first few did. 

After that first night with Daniel she had woken up still tangled in him. It had been nearly noon and she had expertly squirmed herself out from his grasp. (Not before revelling in it for a few minutes first. But when she had adjusted herself and come too close to his… lower body, well, he had nearly ran from the room and realized the depth of what she was doing). 

She had made him breakfast and he had woken up within the hour. They hadn’t spoken of the night once. 

But she had seen Daniel nearly every day since that first night. Even if they weren’t spending the nights sleeping in the same bed.

Their lives, both equally empty, had woven together pretty seamlessly. Daniel went to the gym and so she had started going as well, and he had started running with her. She liked the strength she felt coursing through her muscles from the workouts, especially after having to physically defend herself from an onslaught of Daniel’s deceased families. She knew that Daniel liked the release of running too, and found the same pleasure she did in it. 

Things seemed brighter with Daniel around. But her therapist had been skeptical at first. 

She thought it wasn’t healthy. She thought that what she needed was a clean break. She thought that somehow, despite Grace’s clear thinking, she rationalized her behaviour that was completely to the contrary. 

She told her she needed a fresh start, she needed to get away from the Le Domas legacy and process (or grieve, depending on the day) the events that had transpired on the evening of her wedding. But Grace couldn’t let herself just walk away. Not when Daniel Le Domas somehow miraculously survived the bullet wound just below his neck and the explosions that had struck down the rest of his family. 

No, Grace thought, she was simply a glutton for punishment. 

But it seemed like fate, that they were here for each other now.

The more time she spent with Daniel, the more obvious her own intentions seemed to her. She relived that morning in bed with Daniel as he slept on far too frequently. When he was gone she was sullen, not in a codependent way but just because she liked being around him. 

They were healing together. Her therapy _was_ progressing (even while the truth was still muddied) and her therapist was eventually pleased with Daniel’s continued presence in her life. She had managed to get Daniel to a few sessions of his own as well. And she knew that his AA meetings were going well too, he hadn’t had a drink in all the time they had spent together. She was proud to see it, to see him slaying that particular demon. 

They’d actually started to forge a life, a small life, but a life all the same. They went to the movies together, to parks, and the zoo. They would go to art exhibits and laugh at that which they found absurd or contemplate that which they both adored. They even took a few day trips to different places outside the city. 

And they talked. It seemed that they talked all the time. Somehow, between almost being murdered and spending a night sleeping together, all walls had crumbled between them. They talked about their lives, their fears, their hopes and dreams. She learned about his horrific childhood and she shared her own stories of heartache from the foster care system. 

Eventually they talked about his family, about Alex and the rest of them. That hadn’t been easy. There had been tears, even a few arguments. But in the end they made up with one another, processing what had transpired and coming to terms with the people they were now, not who they were then. 

There had been one specifically enlightening conversation, spread out on Daniel’s massive couch at almost two in the morning when their current Netflix series finally finished. It had been early on, the first month before they started broaching the heavier topics. She had been planning to stay over in his guest room already when Daniel spoke into the suddenly quiet room. 

“I never fucking loved her,” Daniel half chuckled as if coming upon some grand revelation. 

Grace had sat up and turned to face him, she let her plain confusion be all Daniel needed to continue.

He ran a hand through his hair, tousling it even further and Grace hadn’t been blind to the glassy look his eyes took on. 

“She shot me…” Daniel had continued to laugh and looked dazed when Grace finally clued in. 

In retrospect, the show they’d been watching had heavily featured a couple together out of convenience and not at all in love, but at the time the meltdown had come out of nowhere. And seeing Daniel so vulnerable had unlocked something in her. She scooted over beside him and wrapped her arms around him. 

“Hey,” Grace said, dropping her voice, “Remember they tried to kill me too. But we’re here. We survived Daniel.”

Daniel looked at her then and for the first time that Grace could remember, she felt _seen._ It was like Daniel was opening her up and peaking inside, at all the pieces she hid from the outside world. 

“God I’m a mess,” Daniel said with a big sniff, “You’re the one who was quite literally hunted down for a ritualistic sacrifice and I can’t even handle my dead ex wife shooting me one time? I never would’ve survived what you survived.”

Daniel’s tone was light but Grace could tell he was hiding what he really felt about the situation, brushing over his actual feelings. So Grace of course just said what she was actually thinking. 

“Charity was a raging bitch.”

A moment of silence. Grace felt Daniel tense beside her and then he erupted into deep belly laughs. Soon enough Grace joined him and after a few more moments they both collapsed back on the couch. Side by side, their arms touched and Grace was suddenly very aware of the contact. 

“When I told her about the Le Domas initiation… She didn’t even flinch. I guess I should’ve known then,” Daniel said with a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair again.

Grace was becoming too fond of the habit. 

“At least you told her,” Grace said, with a bit of venom, “Charity was a bitch but Alex didn’t even grant me the decency of a choice.”

Unexpectedly, Daniel had grabbed her hand. 

“When Alex told me he wasn’t going to tell you. I’ve never been so mad. He had a hundred excused but I never thought that was right. He knew you would’ve left him, given the choice. It was selfish,” Daniel said. _I would’ve given you the choice,_ was left unsaid but Grace heard it all the same. She fought back a tear

His voice was so earnest and he captured her in his gaze again, as if it were life or death that she understood this. And wow. It really hit her how different the Le Domas brothers were. Something twisted inside Grace.

“He knew,” She said and squeezed Daniel’s hand, “In the end he knew that I hated him.”

Daniel nodded at her and they hadn’t needed to say anything else that night. Shortly afterwards they had gone their own ways to bed but Grace had lied awake thinking about the exchange. How they had traversed the topics of their grief with care and still managed to maintain an air of levity the whole time. Grace fell asleep with a smile on her face.

With that in mind, Grace considered Daniel and her further. He made her laugh in ways she didn’t know were possible anymore. He made her feel alive, and more importantly he made her want to live and live every day fully. 

While they hadn’t needed jobs, not even remotely. Grace had taken a part time job at a locally owned cafe. It was cute and quiet, a college crowd mostly frequented it and some older tenured professors. But she loved the easy going nature of the patrons and actually found herself making friends with the staff who worked there. She even went to a few out of work events and get-togethers with them (of course she forced Daniel to tag along) and enjoyed herself thoroughly. It was like living a normal life. 

(And if all her work friends thought it was absurd that her and Daniel weren’t together. Well she kept that to herself). 

She hadn’t convinced Daniel of the greatness of getting a job to fill his time but he did spend a lot of time in the cafe with his laptop. It had taken a few weeks for Grace to pry it out of him but she finally found out that he was writing. 

Writing a novel more specifically. A hidden passion she hadn’t known he possessed. Apparently he had given it up after college but found himself getting back into it now. She was happy for him, that he was finding something for himself. Though she continued to pester him as he hadn’t let her read any bits of the mysterious project for herself yet. Not even a hint at a genre! It was infuriating. 

And then in the last month, things had changed between them again. 

While Grace and Daniel hadn’t spent more time in the same bed, they had spent many a night together. Since they’d started staying at his place and Grace had all but taken over his guest room, they were spending almost all their time together. And as it became more and more frequent, Daniel had actually asked her to move in with him. 

He had stammered, and blushed and mumbled through it. She had found it so cute how flustered he could get, especially when he had such bravado around anyone else, just by being around her. She had looked grimly serious at him for a few seconds and watched his expression fall before launching herself into his arms and whispering a fevered _yes_ into his ear. 

That was almost a month ago. And as most nights went, she found herself on the couch, sprawled across Daniel’s lap as they channel surfed. 

“I _hate_ the Big Bang Theory,” Grace moaned as he landed on the channel. 

Daniel nudged her, “We watched HGTV all night last night for you! You promised whatever _I_ wanted.”

Daniel’s taunting reminder and wicked grin from above where her head lay caused her to huff out a breath. 

Grace didn’t argue further and did find herself laughing along with the laugh track from time to time. 

This easy comfort between them had developed so naturally she thought. It would be odd to others, she knew, how they touched like this without a second thought. But Grace knew they both were reassured by the other’s presence, seeking solace in the mere presence of a human body. (She wondered if Daniel ached for more like she did though. And sometimes she would think she was betraying Alex’s memory, but one remembrance of him attempting to sacrifice her quenched that fear). 

“What would you be doing if you hadn’t called me in the middle of the night all those months ago?” Grace asked suddenly, about halfway through the episode. 

Daniel startled and sat them both up, his hands were on her calves now and she sat between his legs on the couch. They faced each other. They hadn’t talked about that night.

Daniel laughed and ran a hand through his hair. 

“Honestly, I’d probably be close to another relapse,” Daniel’s voice turned dark, “You and sobriety came into my life together.”

Grace didn’t answer. It was scary to think of him like that when he was so far from it now. But she imagined an equally desolate time for herself. No, she didn’t have a crippling addiction. But her life was empty before Daniel came back into it. Now it seemed fully bursting at its seams. 

“Well I’m glad you did call,” Grace said. 

She gripped his hand for one second before laying back down in his lap and turning back to the TV. She felt Daniel’s breath even out after a few seconds and his arm came to trace idle patterns up and down her arm.

* * *

For the first time in months Daniel woke up in the throws of a nightmare. He hasn’t had one since that night he first went to Grace’s place. And to his knowledge neither had she. 

But he couldn’t temper the scream that was pouring from his lips. And when it died he swore he could still hear it. It took him a few seconds before he realized that the scream was coming from the other room. Grace. 

The scream stopped before he flung open his door and to his surprise the guest room door, across the hall from his own, was flung open at the same time. Grace stood there shaking, and she looked just as mortified as him. 

He didn’t even take a second to cross the floor and wrap her in his arms. He soothed her as she continued to shake and found his own heart rate slowing as he matched his breath to her own. 

They were locked in the embrace for several moments before he pulled away slightly. He looked down at Grace and she looked up at him. In the dark of their shared apartment, completely alone, it washed over him. That which he had been trying to push down for months now. 

He loved her. He was in love with her. And to hell with everything else, their pasts. The people who were long dead be damned. He had been so worried about what Grace deserved, nervous that he wasn’t enough, couldn’t be enough for her. But she had stayed even after seeing the worst of him, they were here now. He loved Grace Le Domas precisely because she was everything a Le Domas wasn’t. She had the name because of Alex but she was not one of them. She made Daniel want to continue to shed that legacy as well. 

“Daniel,” Grace’s voice came out soft and hesitant and she looked up into his eyes with hope that swirled something deep in his stomach. 

Her eyelashes fluttered and he looked at her cool blue eyes, so delicate and vulnerable in the half light. 

He gulped and closed his eyes for one long breath. Then he held her tighter and brought his lips down to her own. 

It started out slow, but Grace returned his kiss immediately. She moved her lips over his own and after a turn slid her tongue questioningly over his lips, parting them and entering his mouth. He let out a small moan and returned the gesture just as passionately. Biting at her lower lip and hungering for more of her taste. They stood there nearly motionless besides their mouths moving in tandem for what felt like an eternity. 

Then at once it was too much and Daniel was very aware of their predicament. Grace was dressed only in a loose t-shirt and her underwear. He could feel already that she didn’t have a bra on. Daniel was only in his boxers and his own growing arousal was becoming immediately apparent. 

He parted their lips for the briefest of seconds. 

Grace smiled up at him. 

“Don’t overthink it,” Grace smirked and kissed him again. 

This time there was more heat to it. Daniel gasped when Grace moved from his lips and kissed down his neck, tracing the scars on his neck. He had avoided them so much since getting them but now, now he had a newfound appreciation. Soon enough Grace was gripping to him for dear life as she jumped up to wrap her legs around his torso. She pressed her chest into his body and he let out another moan as they continued to kiss and his hands came up to hold her to him, resting on her ass. God, she had a nice ass, he thought as he squeezed it firmly. 

As they continued to kiss he carried her back towards his own room, rapidly realizing that they needed to find a bed and quickly. 

Grace curled her fingers around Daniel’s hair, tugging him closer to her mouth. His own hands roamed around her lower back and continued to enjoy her ass. Her skin was silky smooth and the feeling of it jolted him, a part of him could hardly believe this was happening. After everything it seemed almost too perfect, too much of a happy ending. 

He laid Grace down on the bed and stood over her for a moment, drinking her in. Her lips were swollen and her hair looked disheveled, spilling down over her chest. With a wink she pulled her shirt over her head. 

As he had suspected, no bra. He marvelled in her breasts for a split second longer before kicking off his boxers and bending over her to lay kisses all over them. Again, perfect. She was perfect. Her nipples were hard like glass when he took one in his mouth and he felt her writhe under him, rutting her hips up into his now throbbing cock and giving him some much needed friction. 

“Daniel,” she moaned and he watched her throw her head back, her eyes rolling back too. 

He wanted to take his time with this but he was also dealing with several months of pent up sexual tension to languor in all the finer details. (All the weeks spent tangled up with Grace on the couch had been doing a number on the vividness of his imagination). He detached himself from her nipple and got to work. She was lying comfortably on the bed before him, all his for the taking and giving him all the encouragement he needed with her eyes. With one hand still on her other breast and tweaking her nipples his other went to her underwear. 

Sopping wet. The thought made his already aching dick twitch, but again, he didn’t want to be hasty. He slipped a finger into her folds. He found her clit with ease and rubbed methodical circles with his thumb. She bucked her hips into his hand instantly. And before top long he slid one, two, three fingers up inside her, preparing her for what was to come. 

Beneath him she shimmied her panties the rest of the way off as he continued to work her open. She was moaning his name over and over, gripping harshly into the sheets. So he took his other hand away from her breast and gave himself a few quick pumps to relieve some of his own tension. Then he removed his fingers and hovered over her. 

The sudden emptiness left Grace whining below him. She looked up into his eyes again. 

“Are you sure?” Daniel whispered huskily.

Grace closed her eyes, “Daniel. Please.”  
  
Her voice was begging and Daniel was quick to oblige. He rolled over to his bedside table for only a second, he grabbed a condom and opened it quickly. He rolled it over his dick with ease and repositioned himself on top of her. He wasted no time. He thrust himself into her wet opening with one swift movement and gave her a moment to adjust to the feeling of fullness before starting to move. The expression on her face was near enough to send him over the edge. He kissed her then, stifling her own gasps of pleasure with his mouth. 

After a short while he could feel her tensing below him and felt her walls tightening. He stopped kissing her and moved his hips faster, working her over to her release. She lifted her hips up to meet his one last time, every part of her body taut and with a few final thrusts he felt her orgasm as she let out one final moan. 

“Daniel.”

He let her finish before removing himself. His own release was yet to come, but he could be patient for Grace. His Grace. This incredible woman who was still recovering beside him. He idly played with her nipple while trying to ignore his own need for release. Grace came around after another minute and turned to him, she suddenly looked very devious. 

“My turn,” she said then and leveled him with a wolfish grin and Daniel was amazed he didn’t just come then and there. But before he could think further, Grace was pushing him down on his back and descending her head towards his cock. 

Next thing he knew her full pink lips were sucking on him and her head bobbed up and down. Her eyes never left his own. He thought he could die happy while receiving the best blowjob of his life from Grace Le Domas. 

His hands came to her hair as she went to work. She stroked the base of his cock and fondled his balls while her mouth moved up and down the length. She licked expertly with her tongue and moved her mouth in a way he didn’t think possible, taking more in than he could have ever expected. Daniel felt himself getting closer and suddenly he had to speak up.

“Grace. If you don’t stop, I’m gonna-” Daniel choked out but he didn’t finish before Grace’s mouth was off him with a wet pop. 

And then with no hesitation she was moving up his body towards him, she threw one leg over the other side of his body and straddled his hips. She leaned down to his mouth and kissed him on the lips deeply for a moment before proceeding. 

She slid down back towards his pulsing cock and worked herself down onto it, he watched as her eyes rolled with pleasure at the sensation. She drew him up closer so his body was flesh against her breasts as she started to move. He held Grace firmly in place on his lap.. 

She bounced up and down on his cock. Fuck she was slick and wet, his dick came right out a few times as she readjusted herself on him. His hands found her ass again as she grinded harder on him. 

Her breasts bounced against him and he revelled in the feeling of it, occasionally bringing his mouth down to suck at her nipples. 

After a couple more minutes Daniel knew he was about to burst. 

“Grace.” He groaned with desperation and Grace only responded with her own needy pants as she raked her nails down his back. 

And with that Daniel came. So hard and so fast that he felt as if he was blacking out. He fell back onto the mattress, Grace coming with him on his stomach as he felt her reaching her own second climax. 

Daniel merely laid there for several minutes, still buried deep inside Grace until she recovered from her own high and rolled off him. She clutched to his side though and didn’t go far. 

Daniel reached down and removed his condom, still a bit shaky from all that had just transpired and throwing it quickly in the trash. 

He pulled Grace, still naked, closer to him as he burrowed under the covers. 

“I love you, Daniel Le Domas,” Grace said into his ear.

And damn, Daniel regretted that he couldn’t see her face the first time she said that. But the words excited him all over again. For so long Daniel’s life had been one journey through the dark. For a time it felt like Alex’s wedding was the catalyst for that life to end, but now it seemed like the start of something altogether different.

“You sure about that Grace? I’m sure you have much better prospects,” Daniel teased her. 

She kneed him in the side and he grunted. 

“Fine, fine. I love you too,” Daniel said and turned to her to give her one short kiss, “Of course I do.”

Grace smiled at him, lighting up his whole world. Daniel held her even tighter.

“I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of hassle if we had just figured that out from the start,” Grace said with a soft laugh. 

And Daniel laughed too. Because he really did wonder, if Grace had met him first, the other Le Domas brother, would they have been here now? Daniel found he didn’t care. He wouldn’t trade mere possibilities for the very real fact that Grace was in his arms now. 

“This is better,” Daniel assured her, “This way you don’t have to worry about any pesky in laws.”

He laid a kiss on Grace’s forehead as she rolled her eyes at him. Maybe they did deserve this tiny slice of happiness, just for themselves.

Neither of them had any more nightmares.

**Author's Note:**

> I really just wrote this as a way to process my feelings as I said. this is such a small quaint fandom and i have made my way through most of the works already. kudos to all the authors who have put forth works, there is some serious talent. I hope you enjoyed this and my interpretation of what could've happened if the fates were kinder <3 drop a comment if you like and we can chat about our tragic darlings


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